Bulls edge Loftus scrap
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The Bulls battled their way to a 25-24 victory over the Force in a scrappy encounter at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The visitors outscored the Bulls by three tries to one, but the accurate boot of Handre Pollard yielded six penalties which was enough to get the Pretoria side over the line in the end.
The Force suffered a fifth defeat in a row after starting the season with a win at title-holders and fellow Australians Waratahs, but the Perth outfit can take several positives from the game.
They came agonisingly close to becoming the first Australian side to win a Super Rugby league match at Loftus since 2007 after taking a two-point lead two minutes from time.
They conceded only seven points when reduced to 13 men for nine second-half minutes when lock Adam Coleman and prop Tetera Faulkner were yellow-carded for infringements.
And they outscored three-time champions the Bulls by three tries to one with the impressive Coleman, skipper and lock Sam Wykes and centre Kyle Godwin dotting down.
Centre Luke Burton kicked two conversions, but missed three attempts and was deprived of another chance when scrumhalf Alby Mathewson opted to run an early kickable penalty.
Ebersohn, one of two South Africans who started for the Force with another coming off the bench, slotted the other conversion and a late penalty.
Defeat left the Force 13th on the combined standings with only the Reds and the Blues beneath them.
Torrential pre-match rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, left the pitch soft and greatly reduced the crowd.
The Bulls were first to strike when Pollard landed a penalty from his own half, but the Force responded with the first try as lock Adam Coleman burst through to thunder in under the poles.
Another two Pollard penalties saw the hosts take the lead back, and they went into the half-time break 9-7 up after a very disjointed first half with few attacking opportunities on either side.
The Force took the lead back early in the second half when captain Wykes forced his way over from close range, but they were struck a double blow when Coleman and tighthead prop Faulkner were shown yellow cards within a minute of each other.
With just 13 Force players on the field the Bulls were finally able to score their first try through prop Van der Merwe who burrowed his way over.
Another two Pollard penalties took the Bulls' lead out to 22-14, which meant that the Force would have to score twice in the last 15 minutes to snatch a win.
The visitors pressed hard and were rewared when centre Kyle Godwin stepped through a gap between two props to score and reduce the deficit to just one point.
Ebersohn landed a penalty from his own half to give the Force the lead with just minutes left, but Pollard responded with one of his own to seal victory after he had been speared into the ground by Steve Mafi.
Man of the match: There were not many candidates in a scrappy game but our award goes to Handre Pollard whose accurate goal-kicking was crucial for his team.
The scorers:
For the Bulls:
Try: Van der Merwe
Con: Pollard
Pens: Pollard 6
For the Western Force:
Tries: Coleman, Wykes, Godwin
Cons: Burton 2, Ebersohn
Pen: Ebersohn
Yellow cards: Adam Coleman (Force, 47 – Repeated infringements at the breakdown), Tetera Faulkner (Force, 48 – Cynical infringement, pulling down a maul)
Teams:
Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Jacques du Plessis, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Morné Mellett, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Victor Matfield, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Jurgen Visser.
Western Force: 15 Luke Morahan, 14 Marcel Brache, 13 Kyle Godwin, 12 Luke Burton, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Kane Koteka, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Sam Wykes (captain), 3 Tetera Faulkner, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Pekahou Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Chris Heiberg, 18 Oliver Hoskins, 19 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 20 Angus Cottrell, 21 Ian Prior, 22 Zack Holmes, 23 Solomoni Jnr Rasolea.
Referee: Nick Briant (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Jason Jaftha (South Africa), Pro Legoete (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
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